Dorice Turnnidge (10 Aug 1928 - 19 Mar 2025)

In loving memory of Dorice Turnnidge who sadly passed away on 19th March 2025

EULOGY

Do you know what Dorice means in Greek? Gift from God.

Our gift from God was born in 1928 to Roubina & Vassilis Psaradelis, who were Greeks with roots on the island of Mytilini in the North Aegean.

Dorice was proud to have been born opposite the statue of Lord Byron in the Plaka district of Athens. Like her father, the polyglot and cosmopolitan Vassilis, Dorice became an Anglophile and, as we all know, her life's journey brought her to England.

As a child, her older sister Eleftheria (which means freedom, by the way) used to take her to school in the mornings and made her pay her own bus fare to learn to be independent! It obviously worked. Dorice was an independent lady, living on her own, cooking for herself, keeping house, and shopping with a little help from friends until she was admitted into hospital in March.

Going back to her childhood, one of her fondest memories was of playing with other children in the nearby Zappion Park.

But she never forgot the hard times of the German occupation and the Greek civil war that followed. Athenians were starving, there was virtually no food, and when there was food, it was full of maggots.

Dorice always remembered seeing bodies on the streets, some collapsed from hunger, others shot dead in the crossfire.

The arrival of British troops in 1944 brought a glimmer of hope ... and then Greece descended into civil war.

Through it all, Dorice maintained her optimism and sunny outlook on life.

Dorice was particularly talented with her hands, a gift that dates back to her early years in Athens.

Roubina & Vassilis ran an exclusive hairdressing salon in Plaka where Eleftheria, and Dorice, trained to follow in their parents' footsteps. She later became an accomplished & very much-in-demand hairdresser.

Yet she could lend a hand to almost anything.

I've never met anyone with greener fingers than Dorice. She made annual trips back to Athens to tend the bougainvillea, the vine, the fig tree and other plants in her paradise garden, which also had a pine tree, a cypress, a well and an outdoor shower... She also enjoyed her garden here in Leigh-on-Sea.

Then there was her embroidery, she embroidered her own clothes, even the wedding dress she wore when she married Ron Turnnidge in 1972. She embroidered samplers for important occasions in our family's life, she even embroidered Christmas and Birthday cards for us.

She loved ceramics, we recently discovered some very professional pieces signed 'Dorice'. She also flirted with crochet for a while.

But it's her knitting that most of you will remember her for...

Dorice knitted constantly. This probably dates back to the days when she knitted gloves, socks and scarves for Greek soldiers. Over the years she knitted lots of jumpers for family and friends (without using patterns) and of course woollen hats and gloves for the St Clement's charity boxes. She would often knit while watching a wildlife documentary or a cookery programme on the television,

Cooking, another of Dorice's great talents.

And many of you will remember her for her Greek cooking, especially her authentic moussaka and those famous meatballs that she, Ron and the Faint family used to sell from their Greek food stall at the annual May Fair here at St Clement's, served in pitas with salad and tzatziki.

Dorice would actually make 1,000 'keftethes' - meatballs - and they would all sell out. When she went to stay with Anita, Colin and her granddaughters, Alice & Claudia, she'd take Tupperwares full of ... moussaka and meatballs.

Dorice couldn't throw food away - and often had a doggie bag after a meal out.

Speaking of dogs, when she was married to Rodney, her first husband, she had an Alsatian, Bacchus, who was almost as tall as she was. Then, in Greece, she adopted a stray called Cannella, (Cinnamon),

In fact she took care of the many strays around her home in Glyfada, Athens and supported the RSPCA right up to the end.

She loved all animals and even became a vegetarian from time to time (not just during Greek Lent). In the 50s she had a pet monkey called Snudge, who enjoyed the comfort of a home-knitted jumper made by his mistress. Although it did result in him being caught up a tree once whilst wearing the jumper

And, of course, Dorice had a big heart, caring for people far beyond her family and friends: Meals on Wheels, visiting the elderly in Leigh, teaching Greek at Southend Tech, charities like the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance... Lifeboat Charities...


Perhaps our best memories are of Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations with Dorice, either in Greece or in England, but wherever we were, Dorice would prepare for the occasion by dyeing eggs red in anticipation of the Easter egg cracking ritual. She always kept the Greek traditions alive. One Easter here at St David's Drive we all danced sirtaki after lunch & before we knew it we were dancing around the block.

In her life, Dorice travelled much further than just around the block. She made regular trips to Greece, drove overland to Morocco in the 60s, drove overland to Greece on several occasions, flew to China with Ron to visit me in 1984.

10 years later there was a trip to Kenya with Ron, Anita & Colin, another to Finland, another to the Norwegian Fjords, summer holidays on the Greek islands or in Spain, trips to the Holy Land & other major Orthodox sites.

After Ron's death in 2003, she visited Patricia in New York and then they travelled together to Reno, Nevada. She celebrated her 80th birthday in Dubai with Anita, Alice & Claudia and 2 years ago she and Anita visited Patricia in Marseilles.

Throughout her life, she enjoyed the benefits of both her Leigh & Glyfada homes, loving both her English & Greek lives .

We will always remember Dorice as someone who always looked on the bright side of life, very dignified, discreet, with strong values and a deep faith. She always dressed well, often in her favourite colour turquoise, and remained elegant to the end.

It’s true to say that Dorice enjoyed life to the full; she was in her element in October last year when she attended her great-nephew Alexander’s wedding to Sophie, sharing precious family moments with her niece, Daphne.

As I said, Dorice's name means 'Gift of God', but when she visited Canton, the Chinese gave her a Chinese name which translated means … daughter of the sea. Very apt!

The sea was omnipresent in Dorice's life from Glyfada & the Greek Islands to Leigh-on-Sea..

To the Greeks, the sea represents vitality and even eternal life.

We wish you smooth sailing, Dorice!